As is well known, glycyrrhetinic acid and several derivatives thereof have valuable anti-inflammatory properties and can be administered topically and orally for the treatment of inflammatory conditions.
In particular, the disodium salt of glycyrrhetinic acid hemisuccinate is extensively used for the treatment of ulcerative conditions of the stomach and duodenum. This disodium salt is described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,070,623 and a special form of dosage unit containing this disodium salt is described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,444,290.
Oesophagitis is a common inflammatory condition of the human oesophagus. There are various causes of this inflammatory condition but, broadly speaking, it involves inflammation of the mucous membranes lining the oesophagus.
Although glycyrrhetinic acid and several derivatives thereof are, as mentioned above, widely used in the treatment of inflammatory conditions, they have hitherto not been extensively used for the treatment of human oesophagitis because of the difficulty of ensuring a sufficiently high concentration of the active material in the oesophageal region for a sufficient period of time.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a pharmaceutical composition in dosage unit form containing glyrrhetinic acid and/or an anti-inflammatory active derivative thereof which can be used for the treatment of oesophagitis.